Technograph has gone on a worldwide adventure to seek out the best and
most interesting tech news for you to enjoy! From robots to eggplants, this issue
is full of the new and weird from anywhere and everywhere. We hope you
enjoy exploring with us as we journey to
faraway lands (without leaving the comfort of our computer desks, of course) to
test the reaches of manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s curiosity and
imagination.

ave you ever been
frightened by a robotic person in a
theme park? Have the
animatronics at the museum
ever seemed just a bit too real?
Most of us have had an “uncanny valley” sort of experience at some point in our lives,
but how realistic does a robot
need to be in order to avoid
this sense of disgust? Hiroshi
Ishiguro of Japan has created
a robot that looks and moves
in a more realistic way than
any of its predecessors, and he
modeled it after himself!
Ishiguro’s robot, “Geminoid,” not only looks exactly
like him, it also reacts to touch
in much of the same way as
a person would respond. In a
video demonstration of the robot, an assistant shows that if
he pokes the robot’s cheek, it
flinches and pulls away like a
real human being. Along with
response to touch, the “Geminoid” also mimics eye movement down to the subtle twitching of the eyelid that happens
when real humans shift their
gaze even slightly. These attributes are made possible by
more than 50 sensors in the
face alone that “feel” the touch
and other motors that allow

for the tiny movements necessary. On top of this, Ishiguro is
able to control the robot with
his own movement. The robot, using special sensors and
cameras, can mimic Ishiguro’s
movements perfectly and almost instantly.
The video shows all of these
aspects in a research environment, but it will be interesting
to see where this technology
shows up in the “real world.”
One way that Ishiguro uses
his robot is to speak to people remotely while still retaining the feeling of being in the
room with them. He claims that
people are unsettled at first
(the definition of “uncanny valley”), but because of the sensitive movements, people quickly
become used to speaking with
the robot and settle into a comfortable conversation.
While robots might not be
replacing humans any time
soon and certainly do not
have consciousness like those
in our imaginations, Ishiguro’s
“Geminoid” is a giant step forward in the world of humanoid
robotics.
By Megan Reilly

w

Ishiguro’s cyborg sits at a meeting,
in place of him.
Photocredits:
flickr user centralasian

new strain of brinjal engineered to contain Bt
toxin has caused an uproar in India. Brinjal is
a variety of eggplant grown as
a staple crop in India. The new
strain has been engineered to produce Bt toxin to repel pests, which
can claim a large percentage of
the yearly harvest. Pest-resistant
brinjal could increase the yields of
poor farmers across India. The effort to approve Bt brinjal makes it
the second genetically engineered
organism (GMO) to try for regulatory approval in India, as Bt cotton
is already grown over so much of
the country that India is the sixthlargest producer of genetically
modified crops.
There are many reasons so
few genetically engineered crop
varieties are exported to other
countries. There are intellectual
property laws in place which
copyright these varieties; farmers
in developing nations often cannot afford to pay for licenses to
grow the variety as required by
US copyright law, and they cannot simply pirate the strain without
facing sanctions from first world
countries. So-called ‘terminator
strains’ mean a farmer must buy
new seed each year, and the cost
is often too high for those in the
developing nations that need the
crops most. In addition, the ongoing controversy over genetically
modified organisms in the food
chain means it is politically a very
thorny issue.

Bt Brinjal
Besides the impracticality of
actually exporting GMO food
crops, most of the money for R&D
into GM food goes into corn and
soybeans even though they are
the staple crops for the US and
not many other countries around
the world. Strict regulations in
the EU limit GM crops, so by far
the largest market for these varieties of seeds and crops is with
the agribusinesses of the US. Research into more damp or tropical climates or crops that aren’t
mass-produced the way corn and
soybeans are is more difficult to
fund. So not only is it difficult to
export the wealth of knowledge
produced by first world nations,
it is often simply not very useful.
High-performance pest-resistant
corn tailored to midwestern soil
helps your average farmer elsewhere in the world not at all.
Bt toxin is derived from a soil
bacterium named Bacillus thuringiensis and is naturally found in
soils around the world. Bt toxin
extracted from the bacterium itself
has been used as a pesticide since
the 1920s. Genetic splicing of the
Bt gene has been used successfully to control pests in several other
staple crops, including corn and
potatoes. All GMOs undergo strict
safety testing for toxicity and side
effects. GMO crops, while controversial, have the potential to feed
many of the hungry in the developing world. “Golden rice,” rice
genetically engineered to produce
vitamin A and beta-carotene, pre-

vents millions of cases of vitamin
A deficiency related blindness
around the world every year.
The commercial farming of Bt
brinjal, despite its approval by
the Indian Genetic Engineering
Approval Committee, has been
blocked indefinitely by the Indian
Minister of the environment. It
may be up to a year before Bt
brinjal tests even begin.
By Jeremy Kemball
Sources:
Lemaux, Peggy (February 19, 2008).
“Genetically Engineered Plants and
Foods: A Scientist’s Analysis of the Issues
(Part I)”. Annual Review of Plant Biology
59: 771–812. doi:10.1146/annurev.
arplant.58.032806.103840
(inactive
2009-11-14). PMID 18284373. Retrieved 9 May 2009.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/
news/economy/agriculture/Indiasays-no-to-Bt-Brinjal-for-now/articleshow/5552505.cms
http://business.rediff.com/report/2010/may/13/ban-on-bt-brinjalnot-to-end-soon.htm
http://www.irri.org/publications/irrn/
pdfs/vol25no2/IRRN25-2Minireview.pdf

W

Made In Brazil

hether it’s a simple mechanical pencil or a fancy
computer, it will most likely say ”Made In Japan. “
Even the United States has begun
putting their label of production
on items. What many don’t realize
is that new technology is rising all
around the globe, and its effects
are rippling across the oceans.
While it may not be an en electronic item we use every day, Brazil’s
new rise in farming technology is
something that must be paid close
attention to.

nutrients by over planting is currently not too strong of an issue in
Brazil, by managing the residue
correctly, it reduces weeds and the
need for other harmful herbicides.
Additionally, Brazil has been working on a critical part of farming:
seeding. While the advantages of
a plough may be many, there has
also been work on machines that
just as effectively cut into the biomass covering, which allows the
injection of seeds and fertilizers
and covers them back up in one
swift move.

The idea of a farming economy
can be a thought easily brushed off.
Through the past decade, Brazil’s
investment in new farming technology has significantly contributed to
its economy. Its farming industry
has been estimated to be worth
$250 billion dollars while it produces roughly 35% of the country’s
exports. (Hanson, 2010).

While everyone is hurrying to
get a piece of the money pie, the
main player in Brazil’s agricultural
sector has been Embrapa, a national company started in 1973
that has helped generate and recommend more than 9,000 technologies for Brazilian agriculture.
Consisting of 38 research centers and over 8,000 employers, it
places a high emphasis on education as a solution; 74% of its over
2,000 researchers hold a doctoral
degree in a related field.

Brazilians’ concentration in
creating new farming technology
relies on the working solutions of
the past. Conservative Agriculture
(CA), the preferred method used
by farmers in this South American
nation, implements three main basic forms of operation. At the top
of the list is crop residue management, which “aims at making the
soil surface suitable for new crops
by protecting it with biomass.”
While exhausting the soil of all its

As the positive effects have
been seen with the rise of production in new farming technology
within Brazil, many countries are
on the lookout to benefit from the
enterprise. The most obvious countries to benefit are South African
countries, which not only share
similar latitudes with the Amazoni-

an giant, but also a similar resemblance in soil content. According
to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, or
the FAO, countries such as Kenya
have been implementing the basic
farming techniques of Brazil (such
as crop residue and weed management) and have seen immediate improvements .
As Brazil remains the world’s
main producer of coffee, oranges,
and sugar cane, it may be very
possible that we will begin to see
an additional increase of other
food productions to the list due to
its rise in farming technology.
By Eduardo Narvez
Sources:
* Hanson, S. (2010, August 3). Global
Post. Retrieved August 3, 2010, from
Opinion: Brazil can boost African
agriculture: http://www.globalpost.
com/dispatch/africa/100802/brazil-aid-lula-agriculture
* http://www.embrapa.br/english/
embrapa/about-us
* http://www.fao.org/ag/magazine/
0703sp1.htm
* http://www.bbc.co.uk/
news/10125582
* ilid



TO BE THE BEST,
WORK WITH THE BEST

You’ll never know how good you
can be until you work with the
very best.
In industrial automation, that
company is Yaskawa America, Inc.
Yaskawa is now offering summer
internships and co-op programs
across all engineering disciplines.
•
•
•

merging technologies provide a unique and important playing field where
even the smallest startups
can compete with the big name companies. The most important qualities
are creativity, persistence, and just a
little bit of luck. For Notion Ink, a
small startup out of Hyderabad India, their entrance into the emerging
tablet field is as unique as their product itself.

why they can’t be, and Notion Ink
agrees. Their company blog, where
the majority of posts are from their
CEO, has garnered thousands and
thousands of comments. More unusual, is that their CEO is active in
the discussions: Many of the details
for the tablet have changed, for the
better, because of community discussions. Their choice to include Android on their tablet certainly lends
itself to community as well.

Creativity is a quality that Notion Ink certainly has. In December
2009, their CEO Rohan Shravan revealed the Adam Tablet. The Adam
Tablet features a Pixel Qi display, an
innovative Dual-Mode screen which
can be turned off almost entirely, using the light around it for luminescence (while still being clear and
readable). In addition, the Adam
contains a swivel camera, to act as
both front-facing, back-facing and
everything-in-between.
For those
who need the numbers, it contains a
Tegra 2, dual core 1ghz ARM, 10.1”
multitouch screen, full USB ports,
3G/Wifi/GPS and a seriously cool
back side trackpad. For those who
don’t need the numbers, here’s the
jist: it packs a punch.

Persistence happens to be a
quality Notion Ink has been forced
to have quite a bit of this year. Cool
prototypes that get presented at an
Expo have a long way to go before
they hit the shelves in nice boxes at
your local electronics store, and plenty can go wrong. This is especially
true for small startups, and most certainly for Notion Ink. Riding on the
momentum of their strong demo at
the beginning of the year, Notion Ink
signed a deal with investors to get
into production. As the story goes,
after moving to Bangalore, completing the design and getting all set
to begin production, their investors
started suggesting they make bigger
and bigger changes, at one point
even suggesting converting the tablet into a netbook. As the debates
heated up between the two, the investors cut Notion Ink’s planned app
competition, and started laying off

Community is one term not normally associated with hardware
startup companies, but we don’t see

Notion Ink’s staff. Deals with their
manufacturer went sour, and things
looked bleak for the startup.
In June of this year, Notion Ink
officially signed a deal with a new
investor, got a new manufacturer
lined up, and officially got back on
track. Their tablet is set to come out
late this November, so it remains to
be seen if Notion Ink has the last
quality they need for success: luck.
However, it could not have come at a
more crucial time, with several other
big releases from major competitors
due out around then. Whether Notion Ink emerges at the top or finds its
place elsewhere remains to be seen,
but it’s an innovative effort from an
ambitious startup.
That’s what Technograph is all
about.
By RJ Marsan

w

Notion Ink performing a Pooja, a
ceremony to seek the blessing of the
Lords, for their move to Bangalore.
photocredit notionink.wordpress.com

f

The Great Firewall of China

or people, like us, who live
in the U.S., it is easy to take
the freedom of communication and access to information for granted. But can you imagine
living somewhere where Facebook,
Twitter or Youtube are not as readily available as they are to us? In
China, the complex censorship rules
have elevated from traditional print
and broadcast media to the more recent internet, which had previously
provided a platform for the Chinese
people to speak up, communicate
with each other, and access information like they never had before. The
Chinese government no longer held
an information monopoly over their
people. To counter this situation, the
Great Firewall of China (an interesting derivation from the Great Wall
of China – the infamous historical
fortification built to protect China
from foreign invasion) exists and is
now the most sophisticated cyberspace monitoring in the world.

What used to be the responsibility of the Central Propaganda Department, internet censorship has
now become a central issue that requires the cooperation of more than
14 government ministries. China is
also the first country to employ more
than 30,000 internet police to monitor online activities. So, what is causing the online community’s increasing attention? It is the astounding
increase in the number of Chinese
internet users, a group that has already reached 384 million (almost a
quarter of the world’s total users).
To ensure the effectiveness of
the GFW (Great Firewall), keyword
filtering and self-censorship are
commonly used. Filtering keywords
is easy to understand; the Chinese
government has a long list of “sensitive words” such as “Dalai Lama”
or “Tiananmen Square Massacre”.
Links to these words are blocked.
Self-censorship is a term that does
not exist in the U.S., but in China,

websites practice self-censorship by
voluntarily blocking “keywords” that
fall into categories of masked words,
sensitive words and taboo words.
Self-censorship works through the
punishment (criticized, fined or
closed down) of websites that do not
follow the rules.
Using proxy servers is a way to
overcome internet surveillance. Sites
such as wujie.net provide tools and
services of excellent quality; for example, “huofenghuang” (fire phoenix) is one convenient tool to access
foreign websites. The Chinese government is clearly not indifferent–
the GFW has only just upgraded
itself and is blocking more and more
proxies and circumvention tools. But
the number of Chinese netizens who
join in to “scale the wall” never decreases. Based on a recent survey
of over 5000 netizens published on
China Digital Times (an independent
Chinese media), two-thirds “scale
the wall” on a daily basis, and about
50% are students. More than 70%
of these people scale the wall just
to use Twitter or read foreign news.
And this ironic tug of war between
the government and netizens will just
continue to heat up.
By Minna Pui Ching Yung
Sources:
* China Digital Times
*

For over a year, Wikipedia
was blocked in China.
photocredit flickr user psd

says
“Imagine sitting in a rural health clinic,
streaming three-dimensional medical imaging over the web and discussing a unique
condition with a specialist in New York.
Or downloading a high-definition, fulllength feature film in less than five minutes.
Or collaborating with classmates around
the world while watching live 3-D video
of a university lecture. Universal, ultra highspeed Internet access will make all this
and more possible.”
Our goal is to experiment with new ways
to help make Internet access better and
faster for everyone. Here are some specific things that we have in mind:
* Next generation apps: We want to see
what developers and users can do with ultra high-speeds, whether it’s creating new
bandwidth-intensive “killer apps” and services, or other uses we can’t yet imagine.
* New deployment techniques: We’ll test
new ways to build fiber networks, and to
help inform and support deployments elsewhere, we’ll share key lessons learned
with the world.
* Openness and choice: We’ll operate an
“open access” network, giving users the
choice of multiple service providers. And
consistent with our past advocacy, we’ll
manage our network in an open, non-discriminatory and transparent way.
Source: http://googleblog.blogspot.com

n Feb. 2010, Google did
it again – it challenged
scientific reality by introducing newer, faster,
more efficient, and more innovative technology into a society
that is advancing quicker into
the future than ever.
Now that speed is increasing
by a factor of about one hundred. Google’s new fiber optic
broadband network boasts a
speed of 1 gigabyte per second,
which is about a hundred times
faster than the average American network. The fibers directly
accessed between 50,000 and
500,000 users in a trial period.
This is the first time that Google’s
fiber optic network has reached
homes; previously, it was used
worldwide for faster streaming
of YouTube videos and Google
searches.
Since 2005, Google’s “dark
fiber” networks (unused nationwide cables systems) have raised
suspicion; it is now assumed that
these cables are being used for

w

the new fiber optic broadband
networks. However, Google is
not looking to get into the Internet Service Provider (ISP) business.
James Kelly, a Google executive, said that Americans “are
hungry for better and faster Internet access.” While Google
was deciding on a place for a
final building site, different cities
across the country had been trying to promote their cities by creating videos, Facebook groups,
and temporary town nicknames
(such as “Google Island” and
“Google, Kansas” – formerly
Topeka).
“This enthusiasm is much
bigger than Google and our
experimental network,” said
Kelly. College towns especially
are fighting for access to the
network, both for current students and recent graduates who
would be more likely to stay in
the area with a faster broadband network. Google’s new
Fiber for Communities webpage

photocredits:
top: fiberfresno.com
right: flickr user KOMUnews

(www.fiberforcommunities.com)
is aimed at bringing faster internet access to communities who
can use the technology for their
benefit.
The Official Google Blog
states that its intent is “to experiment with new ways to help
make Internet access better and
faster for everyone.” In addition
to creating their own network
advances, Google has encouraged the FCC to adapt their
National Broadband Plan to allow for faster and more creative
technologies.
By Caroline Cvetkovic

I

n the mid 1900s, as the
world’s work force became
increasingly mobilized, new
ways to alleviate congestion
and facilitate long commutes were
needed. Traffic, delays and frustration increased, but dated technologies could not keep up with
the demand for modernization. A
fresh approach had to arise in order to push transportation technology into the future. And so, thanks
to the ingenious researcher named
James Powel of the Brookheaven
National Laboratory, magnetic
levitation (MagLev) transport was
conceived in the 1960s.
Although magnetic levitation
had already been studied, never
before had anyone adapted this
concept into a practical form of
transportation. Amazed by this
revolutionary idea, scientists
around the world began its study
leading to enormous advancements. As the years passed, Germany and the UK were the first to
open maglev train lines to passenger transport in the 1970s and
80s. However, these trains were
limited to very short distances,
usually between airport terminals.
Once in Asia, Japan and China
took the technology to new heights
and continued its rapid development to this day.

The Boogie Trains
All maglev trains depend on
powerful electromagnets to “levitate” above the track as a result of
magnetic repulsion and attraction.
Maglev technologies are divided
into two main branches: electromagnetic suspension (EMS) and
electrodynamic suspension (EDS).
Trains using EMS “hug” the steel
guide-rail with a series of “C”
shaped arms whose electromagnets interact with the track from
below, causing the train to levitate
and stabilize above the track. The
trains move forward through propulsion coils (linear motors) that
pull them along with documented
speeds reaching over 300 mph.
Maglev trains using EDS are
differentsince both the track and
the train cars generate magnetic
fields. The track and the cars
create opposing magnetic fields
through super-cooled superconducting magnets for levitation and
propulsion. The trains move forward by creating precisely timed
alternating attractive and repulsive forces between the track and
cars, thus effectively pulling the
train. Even though EDS maglev
trains can propel themselves unlike EMS systems, they do suffer

from one drawback: at low speeds
the magnetic fields are not strong
enough for levitation so the trains
must roll on tires until they reach
a lift off velocity (howstuffworks.
com).
China and Japan have the
most successful commercial applications of maglev technology. In
China, a maglev passenger train
connects Shanghai downtown to
Shanghai International Airport,
a distance of 19 miles traveled
at an average speed of 267 mph
(howstuffworks.com). The success
of this line has led to a planned
expansion of an additional 99
miles to Hangzhou. In Japan, the
MLX01 JR Maglev developed by
the Central Japan Railway Company has reached a maximum
speed of 361 mph (Guinness Book
of World Records). With such
enormous promise, maglev technology has the potential for future
developments. Once implementation cost decreases and efficiency
increases, the future of transport
will be forever changed.
By Radu Lazar

P

PechaKucha Fever Sweeps CU

echaKucha is contagious
this fall, but it won’t get you
out of class with a note from
McKinley. Christina Tapp
has brought a fantastic style of miniconferences to campus from all the
way across the ocean, and students
all over are joining her on the adventure. PechaKucha is an excellent
way to share new, interesting, and
innovative ideas, and ChampaignUrbana can finally join in the fun.
“PechaKucha Nights are informal and fun gatherings where creative people get together to share
their ideas, works and passions in
the PechaKucha20x20 format,” according to the head of the new CU
chapter, Christina Tapp. The rules
of the event are very simple: each
speaker gets twenty PowerPoint
slides for their presentation, and
they get only 20 seconds to present
each slide (whether they are ready
to move to the next slide or not). This

format creates a fast-paced, super
condensed feel to the information
presented, and the need to change
gears so quickly if the speaker is not
done with the current slide just adds
to the fun.
The whole process was created
in Tokyo in February 2003 by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham of Klein
Dytham Architecture to make presenting topics more efficient and
interesting for viewers, and it has
grown into a way for people to enjoy forums from experts in many different fields all in one short sitting.
The whole idea behind PechaKucha
now is more about “passion, not
portfolio,” according to Christina.
Because the events are so centered
on the passion the speaker has for
the topic he or she is presenting on,
the event is more exciting and inspirational for the audience. Plus, this
gives speakers from any level of expertise a chance to really show the

audience how interesting their topic
is without needing to have done a lot
of work in that area. This way, new
fields that do not have much work
available to show yet are given just
as much of a chance to shine as
those that have been in the public
mind for quite some time.
Christina decided to create the
C-U chapter after a trip to Europe
in 2008. She was so inspired by
the group of presenters at her first
night (one of which had even been
the designers for a type of bike rack
she had seen that same day) and the
entire presentation format that she
decided to investigate PechaKucha
in the US. After several months of
research and correspondence with
PechaKucha headquarters, she finally got the go ahead to host four
nights a year right here on campus
(for current dates and times, see
their website at http://pecha-kucha.
org/night/champaign-urbana).
PechaKucha is perfect for the college environment; each presentation
is a little under 8 minutes, so a presentation of 6 totally different topics
could easily take around an hour
(with time to switch speakers). Considering the difficult and often overfull schedule of a college student,
this kind of option for educational
entertainment is very appealing. On
top of the time aspect, PechaKucha’s
informal atmosphere can make the
speakers more approachable to students who might want to ask more
about their work or research opportunities in that field.
By Megan Reilly

magine trying to complete
last minute class work that
requires a calculator. All of
a sudden, your calculator
runs out of power, and you have
no back up batteries. By the time
you run to a nearby store, your assignment will be past due; this assignment would have raised your
grade. You can’t ask your roommate for help because they’re out
at Clybourne’s. What do you do?
Instead of doing calculations
by hand on paper, why not make
batteries out of paper? Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have created an efficient
battery (later further tested by
Stanford University researchers),
which is made of paper and runs
on ink soaked in carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires. The
paper is made up of many tiny,
interconnected fibers which can
easily connect carbon nanotubes.
The size of the battery is also
an important factor in the design. The small diameter helps the
ink’s carbon nanotubes and silver
nanowires stick strongly to the
paper, and this makes the battery
very durable. In fact, the paper
battery, which can also work as a
supercapacitor, can last through
40,000 charge-discharge cycles,
an amount that is in fact more
than lithium batteries. The strong
energy comes from the design of
the battery: it is designed as an integrated device which doesn’t involve multiple processes of transferring energy in order to get the
battery to work. A single battery

w

photocredit:
news.rpi.edu

has many separate components
that involve lots of energy transfer, thus making it use more power than necessary. The materials
in the ink make ideal conductors
because they can move electricity
more efficiently than ordinary solutions. Professor Linhardt, creator
of the paper battery at Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute, explains that
increasing power is also possible.
“If we stack 500 sheets together
in a ream, that’s 500 times the
voltage. If we rip the paper in
half, we cut the power by 50%.
So we can control the power and
voltage issue.”
The battery works in a way
that is consistent with the design.
Normally, a chemical reaction
between an electrolyte and metal
produces electrons, which makes
the energy flow from the negative to the positive end. However,
the paper battery undergoes a
chemical reaction between the
electrolyte and the carbon nanotubes to produce electrons. The
electrons meet at the negative
end of the battery and then flow

along a connected wire to the
positive end. The electron flow
from the negative end to the positive end is required for the chemical reaction to continue.
The paper battery has a bright
future. It is now being considered
as a source of power for smartphones; it’s small size and strong
power makes the paper battery
an efficient choice. Another related project that Linhardt is working on involves pacemakers. The
paper battery would use electrolytes in human blood to power the
pacemakers. The materials are
not toxic because they are biodegradable. Furthermore, a main
goal of Linhardt is to create paper
batteries large enough to power a
vehicle, such as a car. Researchers
at Stanford University are starting
to make batteries out of textiles,
as well. However, carbon nanotubes are very expensive, which
may affect the outcomes of these
projects.
By Lisa Tam

Techno Calendar

Engineering Expo :: September 20-22. 2010
Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s never too late to start finding that dream job! Engineering Expo is the largest job fair to be found in C-U,
and you can come meet employers and apply for various permanent and internship positions. Plus, all proceeds from the event go straight back to student activities in Engineering, so you can meet and greet while
supporting other important activities and groups. This year, the Expo includes the following companies:
Monday
09/20/2010
Accenture
Acquity Group
Aero Engine Controls
AGI
Alcatel-Lucent
Alcoa Inc.
Allstate Insurance Company
AMD
American Structurepoint, Inc.
Analog Devices
Anheuser-Busch InBev
Applied Systems, Inc.
Archer Daniels Midland Company
ARCO National Construction
Avandale Inc.
Bazaarvoice
Bechtel Corporation
Bloomerg
BNSF Railway

Techno Q A
graph
While Technograph was traveling around the world, we
wanted to make a quick stop to investigate emerging green
technologies. We decided to interview Eric Feng, Technical
Advisor to Al Gore, about his work with GreenTech.
I know this is a broad question, but how are
you involved with GreenTech?
Well, there’s two parts to that answer. First is the standard
answer that my role as a partner at Kleiner Perkins is to help
identify great entreprenuers and companies to invest in to build
game changing GreenTech solutions. Kleiner has a broad investment focus in GreenTech.; we work on deals ranging from
solar, to biofuels, to batteries, to geothermal, to electric vehicle
companies. We not only help identify these great entrepreneurs and companies, we also help build their businesses by
being strategic advisors, helping find business partnerships,
assisting with negotiations, recruiting executives for them, and
a bunch of other supporting functions. We want to have a
strong partnership with the companies we invest in.
And the second part?

You’ve mentioned before that you are most
interested in solar power. What is Kleiner
Perkins doing with solar cells?
There are a bunch of solar projects going on; new thin film
materials, new micro inverter technologies, different software
monitoring, even new ways to clean solar panels. The solar
industry is very broad and Kleiner is working on a variety of
applications here.
What do you think the future is for solar
technology?
The most promising technology is thin-film solar. (First Solar produces at 11% efficiency and is constantly improving.*)
It is an exciting technology for all countries; and renewable
investments can create jobs and help invigorate economies.
(Though countries in Asia and Europe seem most eager.*)
What do you think college students can do to
become more environmentally friendly? What
about the average person?

The second part of my answer is that I also support Al Gore.
Al is a partner at Kleiner and we want to make sure all our
partners are successful; so I do my best to help Al Gore be
successful. That involves working with him on a bunch of his
green initiatives, but primarily from a technical perspective.
For example, he might be asked to support a new climate bill
and there are technology components of the bill that I will help
investigate.

There are lots of great programs that college students can
take advantage of to get involved with climate issues.* There
are also lots of programs that non-students can get involved
in to help fight the climate crisis. (Al Gore founded The Climate Project to help educate people on the harmful effects of
climate change. These presentations are free for the hosting
organization and occur all over the world.*)

So, what’s youre favorite thing you’ve been
working on?

By Jessica Metro

From a tech perspective, I’ve been most excited by material
science; new materials for solar cells, carbon fiber, ceramics,
etc. It’s cool stuff. From a personal perspective, I’ve just really
enjoyed the learning opportunities. The GreenTech industry
is so broad. There are so many science and business disciplines involved; so every day is a new and different challenge, which is fun.

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air conditioning
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